I wanted my students to see there was a real live person behind my course and more clearly communicate the unique value my course delivers. I think this new video did the trick! If you want to learn to make games and are looking for a course that goes beyond just showing you the tools and technology, then you’ll want to check out my new course on Udemy.

Find out why my students have made my course one of the top game courses on Udemy!

Unity 4 has dropped. Here are 7 reasons to consider using Unity 4 on your next game.

1. Unity 4 is Free, well at least if you plan to publish to Mac, Linux, PC or the Web. If you plan on going to places like Android, iOS or other platforms, you’ll need to come up with a bit of cash, but trust me, it’s worth every penny!

2. Unity for easy easy to learn. You can learn the basics of using Unity in a weekend, maybe less if you make use of some of the great training you can find online and on placed like Udemy. The editor very intuitive and very powerful and you have over 3 different languages you can choose to program in.

3. Unity 4 has a fantastic development community. You won’t find a more friendly and generous development group out there! Community members are always willing to help and point you in the right direction regardless of your current skill level.

4. Unity 4’s Asset Store. In addition to great tools and a great community, Unity also has a fantastic asset store where developers can upload their products and make money, and developers can access killer assets and tools a very reasonable costs and even for free in many cases.

5. Unity’s spirit of innovation and craftsmanship. I have never encountered a technology company so keen on fixing bugs, ensuring compatibility and continually pushing thing to the edge as Unity…without being asked.

6. Customer service. Over the 3 years I’ve been developing with Unity I’ve been very pleased with their customer service. I’ve always had prompt follow up and been treated with respect regardless of the fact I’m a single developer.

7. Fun. Yes, Unity 4 is just plain fun to work with. You have an idea and a few minutes later there it is, working right in front of your eyes. I get to spend more time working on my games and less time getting tripped up on technology.

So if you have a game project coming up, I recommend you have a look at Unity 4, it may just be what the doctor ordered!

Video games have become a mainstream part of our modern society and culture. There is not a day that goes by where you don’t hear them mentioned in the news, where experts speculate on their link to violence, educators examine their learning potential and parents scrutinize their content. The fact of the matter is we love to play! Video games represent a billion dollar industry that has now recently become accessible to a growing number of people around the world who are looking to entertain and engage us. Whether you’re young or old, guy or gal, techie or not, the world needs you and your new twist on gaming!

So do want to know how to make a game? Here are 7 steps to help get you started.

1. Have a Great Idea

While video games used to be focused on things like sports, combat and driving, things have changed quite a bit over the past decade! Who would have predicted a farming game would have taken the world by storm on Facebook, or that casual and mobile games would send shockwaves through the entire gaming industry. Nowadays gaming can be whatever you want to make it, and the world is waiting to see something new. Now is your chance!

2. Find The Right Tools

It wasn’t that long ago that game development arena was just too costly for an average Joe to break into. Today tools that used to require hundreds of thousands of dollars in costly fees and licensing can now be acquired at a nominal cost or may even be free! Technologies like Unity 3D now empower game creators to fashion high impact 3D games and then publish out to the web, mac, pc, iOS, Android and even popular game consoles like Xbox and PlayStation. You can download a free copy of Unity by visiting www.unity3d.com

3. Learn to Use Them

Video game development used to be quite a tricky and time consuming process that required a great deal of knowledge and expertise and experience. New tools have now entered the marketplace that greatly simplify or eliminate the amount of expertise needed to make games. Game creators can now learn to use these new tools in days or even hours instead of weeks and months. Tutorials and courses can now be found online on sites like Udemy and can get you up to speed with everything you need to know in no time!

4. Create or Acquire Content

Creating 2D and 3D content can be a time consuming and expensive investment. If you’re not an artist, you’ll either need to source one out, or make make use of a growing list of online sites like TurboSquid http://www.turbosquid.com that will allow you to purchase pre-made characters and content for little or no cost. If you need amazing animated 3D characters for your games, you’ll want to check out Mixamo. If game audio is what your looking for, sites like freesound.org and Sound Ideas may have just what you need.

5. Test and Refine

You’ll want to weed out all the glitches and bugs from your game so you’ll need to test your game frequently. You will also find new and interesting ways to improve and make your game even better as you move through the development process. In games, the word done is a very subjective word. There is always room for improvement, so write down your ideas and when time and resources permit, implement them!

6. Publish

Once your game is ready, you’ll want to share it with the world. Whereas video games used to be confined to game consoles and desktop computers, you can publish your games to many other places, nowadays including the web and a growing market of mobile devices. For as little as $99 a year or less, developers can submit their games to a growing number of online marketplaces like the Apple App Store and share in a 70/30 split of the revenue. Did you know there will soon be over half a billion iOS devices in the world in addition to an equal and growing number on the Android platform!

7.Promote

Once your game is out there, you’ll need to promote it! You’ll want to unleash the power of social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, blogging and anything else you can get your hands on to get the word out. Don’t overlook traditional media options though, getting profiled in your local or national paper can give your efforts quite a boost as well.

In conclusion, it’s never been a better time learn how to make a game! So what are you waiting for? Start making that game today, the world is waiting!

About the Author

Richard Hart is an experienced entrepreneur, freelance interactive developer and technology educator at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. Check out Richard’s popular new Udemy courses Anyone Can Learn to Make a Game and Learning to Learn .

I just launched my new Unity tutorial course today. The new course shows you all the basics of making a simple game in just over an hour and features over 12 HD video lessons. Students also get access to full source code examples to download and try out! What’s even better is that if your one of the first 25 students to sign up and enter the code early25 you’ll get to take the course for free! Check out my new course Anyone Can Learn to Make a Game on Udemy today!

More Power
* Full support for native Objective C and C++ code opens full access to the iPhone 3.x APIs and custom plugins.
* Access to video-playback, on screen keyboard support, and GPS/location services.
* Support for 8-texture shading on iPhone 3GS with automatic fallbacks for iPhone 3G.

Better Docs
* Detailed instructions on iphone-specific optimizations.
* New 150 page tutorial to get you up to speed with iPhone game making.

We are particularly excited about the Objective-c and C++ bridge as we’ll now be able to tap the entire raw SDK and team it up with the full power of Unity. The only limit is our own imagination now!

Straight from Tom Higgins himself! I’m very excited about this release as it will allow for bridging Unity with the rest of the iPhone SDK. We do both Unity iPhone and raw SDK iPhone dev a Ethical Entertainment, so this gives us a lot of new options and power that has been off limits up until now.